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Crooks Marginaliized In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Max Alexander Mrs. McGuire English 9 2 may 2017 Crooks Imagine being a black man on an all white farm back in the 1930’s where the Jim Crow Laws were in place. In the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, Crooks is also treated with disrespect by his boss. Whenever the boss gets mad, the boss takes it out on Crooks. If Crooks does anything people don 't like, he can get easily killed. He is usually lonely and sits in his room all night and reads books, life is very hard on this farm while Jim Crow laws were still in effect. In the book Crooks is marginalized and excluded from almost anything the guys do on the farm, for example, when everyone goes into town Crooks stays in his room and reads books. Crooks is marginalized because he is isolated, he is threatened by the other people on the farm, and the boss takes out his anger on Crooks. An …show more content…

For example Curley 's wife threatens crooks while lennie is in Crooks room, Curley 's wife threatens to kill crooks. Crooks is usually scared to talk because he usually threatened, for example when he tried to tell Curley 's wife something she just says, “ I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain 't even funny” (Steinbeck 81). This quote shows us that Curley 's wife threatens Crooks in a racist way. This action is an example that Crooks is afraid to act out because his race. This quote from my research shows us the isolation of blacks in the Jim Crow days. A quote from Lee Sustar shows us the isolation of Crooks because of segregation, “Black workers who tried to organize often found themselves a target of lynch mobs, in both the north of south”. This shows us that if Crooks tries to rebel he could get lynched by the others on the farm because he is outnumbered by race on the farm. Crooks has it the worst on the farm because he has a lot of fear on the farm. Crooks is marginalized in many other ways not just fear on

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Since Curley's wife never received a letter back from the movie director who promised her a role in Hollywood. However that barrier isn’t changeable, and the only barrier she has is her inability to move on from her dead dream. Crooks is in a similar position to Curly wife. He is crippled which hinders is working ability ,and the color of his skin hinders his ability to be hired. Since this book takes place in 1937, the people living in this time are racist to people of color.

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Crooks is a instrestring character according to the story because he is only mentioned once or twice. He is interesting because by the two times he was mention you could tell right away that crooks is one of the loneliest people on the farm just like curley wife. In the story crooks is the only black person on the farm and this was a time of segregation so white people were not allowed to talk to black people. Crooks was lonely according to the story because he lives in his own bunk and is separated from everyone. Crooks has no one to talk to on the farm.

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Crooks (named crooks after being kicked in the back by a horse) is a very controversial character as he is the only black member of the farm and doesn’t actually feature to much in the book. When he is in it though most of what we find out is when Lenny walks into his room. From the start its clear that crooks is a very abused and defensive because he says “You got no right to come in my room” as soon as he notices Lennie stood in his room even though Lennie doesn’t really see any difference between skin colour and doesn’t understand why this is happening. Most of what can be known about Crooks is from the items in his room. His room is actually connected to the barn showing they do not value him as a person but only as a stable buck.

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Crooks is isolated because he’s a black man that has a crooked back and that doesn’t have that much rights so he will spend most of his time in the bunkhouse reading books. Steinbeck used crooks in this story because so they can show that African Americans are lonely.

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S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? (Steinbeck, 80) This quote shows importance because it gives the reader a view on the discrimination against coloured people in that time period. Crooks has stupors and goals in life to see a world full of equality because of his mistreatment of his race.

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He has this big dream of living at a ranch, with his own family, and what a typical ranch has. Unfortunately, he cannot pursue his dream. Crooks is African American. The setting of the novel is during the 1930s which is America's time of the Great Depression. Therefore racial equality by law has a long way to go.

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Around the 1940 's in America was a time of segregation and racism towards African Americans. In Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men and Hughes ' I, too, Sing America racism is evident. For example, both characters aren 't allowed to eat in the same room as whites specifically because of their skin color. However, their responses to the segregation is different; the speaker in I, too, Sing America by Langston Hughes is optimistic and doesn 't let this inconvinience or hold him back from being who he is. Crooks, from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, on the other hand is more annoyed and blocks off everyone.

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Steinbeck displays through the dialogue and characterizations that these characters experience isolation because of both social barriers and personal choice. Crooks being an African-American on the ranch, full of whites, struggles racially which causes his withdrawal from the society. Crooks explains to Lennie his when he’s accompanied by him “ A guy goes nuts if he ain 't got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy is long’s

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He is told that he “stinks” because he is black, and they do not let him be around the others because of that. Crooks has absolutely no social power on the ranch because he is constantly treated differently and discriminated against. Crooks also says, “You got no right to come in my room... Nobody got any right in here but me.” (Steinbeck 66).

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Crooks is an African American farm worker that works with horses on the land. Being a colored person in this era was harsh, and the color of your skin automatically determined the amount of power you would have, so African Americans did not have power compared to everyone else in society. “Lennie watched her, his mouth half open. Crooks had retired into the terrible protective dignity of the negro.” (79;ch.4).

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They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me” (68). As blacks were no longer enslaved, they were still an outcast in America at the time during the Great Depression. Treated unequally they couldn’t get the same jobs as what most white men could get but, if they do they were separated. As Crooks was working at the ranch just like the other men, he was living separately from the other men making him isolated.

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Crook’s character is being discriminated due to his skin color which soon caused him to be disregarded. Although at a certain point, Crooks stood up but no good has come to him. Challenging discrimination is strenuous, however it is necessary in order for an individual to advance. One of the most lousy assumption made during the novel’s time period is the hierarchy between the color of men.

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The isolated conditions aren’t ideal and are much worse than those of the rest of the workers. Being physically disabled and racially different, Crooks has to cope with the harsh realities of the time period, causing the most suffering on his side of the story. His room in the barn was purposely placed to show the effects of his discrimination throughout the job, as well as the lack of communication it causes. Crooks doesn’t have any say in the situation and lacks power in the hierarchy of the ranch, causing him to suffer the most through the reality of

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Another example of Crooks getting discriminated because he is black is when he and Curley’s wife are arguing. She completely shuts him down by saying how she could get anyone to lynch him at any time. Crooks can say nothing but “Yes, ma’am”. Even Curley’s wife, who is considered weak, can pick on even weaker people, like Crooks.

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They say I stink. Well I tell you all of you stink to me.” ” (65) Crooks was shunned because his physical appearance and wasn’t treated the same as the rest of the men. This makes Crooks a key character that informs us of the social injustices that where prominent during the time period of the novel.

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